above the River Gray
by youknowyouwantit
Summary: Raven started to back out of the tent. "Monty was too scared to find you two naked. And since I've already seen it….". Bellamy grabbed beside him, and threw the closest thing that he could find at her retreating form, possibly a canteen. Because she's Raven, she just swatted it away before it could hit her, chuckling as she went. Clarke and Bellamy and friends on a scouting trip.


**Apologies for this, as I wrote it all in one go, with no plan in mind. Thanks for reading! Reviews welcome. Most of the characters are not mine. **

* * *

"You were in my dream last night". Bellamy started.

Clarke was in the passenger seat beside him in the Rover, sitting cross legged, hair long and wavy, blowing in the wind from the open window. She barely reacted. Bellamy was not surprised. This was unlike any other words every exchanged between them.

Finally, "Yeah?".

"Yeah", Bellamy steered around a large rut in the road and turned down the radio volume. "You were in the desert, there was red rock everywhere, and you kept telling me something and yelling at me when I would forget it".

The corner of her lip turned up, "Sounds like me". She said. "What was I trying to tell you?"

"Can't remember". Bellamy said. He looked at her, she was looking out the window now, he couldn't see her face, but her fingers were twitching in her lap. This was the first time he had ever seen her wearing a color besides gray, and his eyes were caught for a moment on her baby blue shirt. It made everything about her seem lighter somehow. It took him a few more seconds to gather the courage to answer her. "Something about Finn".

Her lack of reaction to that statement was surely deliberate, no part of her moved or reacted. Bellamy wondered briefly what he was doing. He let off the gas and put the Rover in park at the edge of the clearing they had just arrived at. The riders that had been tailing them on horseback rode up behind them. The steam from the horse's breath fogged the back window of the Rover.

Clarke's fingers trembled as she fidgeted with the edge of her shirt. Bellamy's eyes followed the movement. She never ate anything when she was stressed and she had a tendency to get weak and shaky as a result. He opened the rover door and stepped out onto the cold ground. "Camp here?"

Suddenly all action, Clarke opened the door and swung out, hand staying firmly in place on her hip where her handgun was holstered. "I'll check the perimeter, you feed the kids?"

He nodded, unaffected by her brisk tone. He had tried to rile her, he deserved it the result. "Yeah".

Over the next hour, Bellamy had the riders cool down their horses, feed and water, and then set up the tents in semicircle around a large firepit. Besides Jasper getting his foot stuck in one of the ties, the tent building went remarkably well. Miller had shot a deer on the way in, and he had the fire going and the meat cooking in no time. Jasper and Monty were nursing Jasper's wounds with apple pie moonshine as they lost light. Raven was perched on a log beside them, slapping the back of their heads whenever one of them burped, which was fairly often. Murphy was nowhere to be found. The other kids were scattered around, trying to get Monty to share the moonshine, while he pretended to ask for ID. Bellamy was pacing around the tents, making sure they were set up correctly in case it stormed overnight, when Clarke pushed her way through the brush at the edge of the clearing.

Bellamy stopped his investigating to watch her approach. She looked unharmed, but there was something off about her gait. He waited to panic until she was close enough to touch. Clarke moved as if to brush by him, but he grabbed her elbow to stop her. She looked up, and he was caught again by the blue shirt, just barely visible under her collar. Her eyes were very bright in the light from the fire.

"Are you hurt?"

Clarke rolled her eyes, but she didn't seem mad. She must not have been bothered by him bringing up Finn. "No Bellamy, its just a scratch".

He didn't let go of her elbow. "Let me look at it, okay?"

She sidestepped away from him, "I think I'll be fine".

"Come on Princess". Bellamy tried to tease her, but it sounded more pleading. "I never get to stitch anything up".

Clarke rolled her eyes and her arm relaxed in his grip, right before she jerked it away from him. "Fine. But stop touching me—I don't want the kids to worry".

Bellamy held both his hands up in a dramatic surrender, before turning to follow her over to the rover, still parked just beyond the circle of the tents. He took one quick glance over the firepit before ducking behind the rover. The kids were all still laughing and passing the mason jars of moonshine around. Raven was the only one watching them, so Bellamy shrugged at her, to which she rolled her eyes and returned to watching the kid's antics.

Clarke was already perched in the passenger seat of the Rover, on the far side from the tents. The kid's giggling was muffled at this point, the only thing Bellamy could really hear were the sounds of the horses eating grass nearby. Bellamy leaned against the side door as Clarke unbuckled the emergency kit from under the seat. She handed it to him in a rare show of trust. Bellamy had not actually expected her to hand the reins to him, but now she leaned against the seat and half closed her eyes.

He set the kit on top of the Rover. "What got you?"

"Barbed wire I think."

He nodded, tugged on the edge of her jeans. "Always something with you. Which leg?"

"Right. Perimeter's clear by the way."

Bellamy snorted. He rested the kit on one leg and rifled through it for betadine and bandages. Figures she would still be focused on the perimeter. "You gonna take off your pants or can you roll them up?"

"I'll take them off." She unbuckled her pants, and started to roll them down. She was wearing very tiny black shorts underneath. Bellamy had seen much more of her before, but it never ceased to amaze him how uniquely beautiful she was. She had on thick woven socks that came up to her knees, but she still started shivering in the cool air. "Did all the kids eat? Did Ryan eat?"

Bellamy gently touched her knee, and rotated her leg so that he could better see the jagged cut that ran down the inside of her knee. It was shallow, Clarke hadn't been lying.

"Cold". Bellamy warned as he scrubbed at the cut with some cloth soaked in betadine wash. Clarke's face stayed impassive, though it surely stung. She kept watching him, until he said, "Yes, Ryan ate. Raven made sure of it."

Ryan, one of the particularly smaller of the girls, had a tendency to get lost in whatever she was doing (usually following Raven around) and forget to eat meals. Raven often had to bring her food or remind her to eat, otherwise she would get lost in her book or her chores and never eat. She absolutely did not remind Bellamy of someone else he knew.

Bellamy waited for the skin to dry before he put a bandage across the wound and taped it on. It had already stopped bleeding, but he wanted it to stay clean. He didn't let go of her knee. "And Shay got her medicine, and the rest of the kids ate, and the tents are all ready to go. You still think it's a good idea to look North tomorrow?"

Clarke nodded. She was looking down at his hand, his thumb was brushing the inside of her knee, which he hadn't quite realized that he was doing. She met his eyes, "We'll talk later? I haven't decided yet."

Bellamy nodded then looked down again. There were scratches on her other leg as well, but they were less than superficial. She also had a bruise on the inside of her left thigh. Bellamy wondered if it was a hickey. He wondered if she was still sleeping with Niylah, and he wondered how many people had kissed her since he had.

Instead of asking any of that, he said: "Miller cooked that deer so there is also plenty for _you_ to eat, since I know you didn't have breakfast."

Clarke rolled her eyes. She rested her hand over his on her knee and then moved it to the seat beside her, squirmed on her pants, and jumped from the cab. She landed very close to him and patted both her hands on his chest. She touched him more and more these days, and Bellamy wished he could say that he was used to it. "Thank you Doc." She said, then winked at him.

Bellamy pushed her a little bit towards the fire as he put the kit back and shut the Rover door. When they reached the rest of the group, it was easy to see that most of them were already sloshed. "You know we have to be up early right?" Clarke asked them when she reached them. Miller chuckled into mug and Raven, from her spot on a stump, elbowed Clarke in the hip.

Jasper, now slouched against Raven's legs said: "Yes, Mom." To which Monty cackled.

The rest of the kids, the smaller ones, were on the other slide of the fire, mostly asleep somehow. Ryan was still awake, face in her book that Bellamy had specifically heard Clarke tell her not to bring due to lack of space. Al and Shay were on either side of her, asleep on her shoulders. Ryan was the smallest kid in the group, only 12, and very thin for her age. She was also very quiet. When they had first landed, the other kids never spoke with her. Bellamy's heart melted a little bit. He was glad to see that they had accepted her. She was a good kid. Smart, and a quick thinker. Just as useful as the other two, who were already excellent shots.

Miller handed Clarke and Bellamy some deer meat, and Clarke reached over and stole Raven's mug of moonshine out of her hands. Raven reached over and stole Jaspers and handed it to Bellamy. "Drink up!" Raven said, louder than she would have sober. "I'm tired of always being drunker than you too".

Bellamy took several strong gulps of the moonshine, and battled the wince that threatened to overtake his face. "You could try drinking less?"

Raven turned to glare at him. Her hair was braided today, which Bellamy thought was strange but didn't have enough energy to ponder. It looked very pretty. "Hey! It numbs my pain." She snapped at him; she always did get so hostile after a few drinks.

Clarke took a few sips from her mug and did wince. It looked as if it used all of her facial muscles. She then coughed for a bit. "_Jesus_", was all she said when she was done coughing. Then she took a few more sips.

Bellamy cackled and then reached over to cheers their mugs.

* * *

"Bellamy. _Bellamy_."

Bellamy groaned and rolled over under the blanket. He tried to duck his face under the blankets away from the cold, but then something smacked him across the head. He shot up. "WHAT?"

Raven's face stared back at him; she was crouched beside him. She did not appear affected by his tone. They were in one of the tents around the fire, in the camp off in the forest beyond the Gray River. Bellamy remembered now. They had gone to sleep late, after drinking.

Bellamy sat up a little bit; Clarke was asleep on his left arm, blonde hair strewn everywhere. She mumbled in her sleep as he sat up. "What's wrong?". He asked Raven. She seemed to be in one piece and Bellamy couldn't hear any signs of distress from the rest of the camp. Somewhere, one of the kids was snoring—likely Jasper.

"Is she okay?" Raven asked, gesturing to Clarke.

"Yes". Bellamy growled. His head hurt. "She's a heavy sleeper." He turned to look at Clarke. In Raven's defense, Clarke did look dead.

Raven nodded. Then said without any pretense: "Octavia is here, with news from her clan."

Bellamy's whole body relaxed.

"Fucking finally." Is what he said, to which Raven gave him a half grin for. "Thanks for waking me." He said.

Raven started to back out of the tent. "Monty was too scared to find you two naked. And since I've already seen it….". Bellamy grabbed beside him, and threw the closest thing that he could find at her retreating form, possibly a canteen. Because she's Raven, she just swatted it away before it could hit her, chuckling as she went.

Bellamy brushed the hair out of Clarke's eyes and then gently shook her shoulder. "_Clarke_. Octavia's here."

Clarke rolled over and looked up at him, eyes blurry with sleep. "Did you tell her she's fucking late?"

He laughed outright and reached for some warmer clothing. The first thing he grabbed was blue, so he slung it towards Clarke. She was already sitting up, pulling another shirt on over her tank top. It looked like one of his, but he let it go. Her eyes were still half closed, and he wouldn't dare argue with her at this time in the day.

"Your hair is crazy right now." Bellamy said once she was more dressed. He used both hands to move it out of the way of her face again. Clarke leaned into his touch. That was the thing about Clarke, Bellamy thought, always doing what he least expected. "They're gonna think we had sex".

Bellamy was not sure what possessed him to say that. Potentially he was still intoxicated. Certainly he still smelled like apple pie moonshine.

"They already think that." Clarke answered, without missing a beat. Maybe she was still intoxicated too. "Come on, lets go see what Octavia found out."

They ducked out of the tent together; pausing just outside so Bellamy could tie his other shoe. There was no sign of Octavia within the circle of tents or on the other side of the firepit, but Bellamy could hear the horses stirring over by the Rover, so they headed in that direction. Octavia was astride a tall black mare just beyond the string of horses, hair braided back tightly against her scalp, wearing Grounder leather and tall dark boots. Raven was on the ground beside them, one hand resting on the mare's shoulder. Bellamy had never seen the horse before.

Octavia did not react until Bellamy and Clarke were beside Raven, then she swung down in one smooth motion. "Hey big brother". She said, and her face broke into a smile. She gave him a quick hug, then Clarke one as well. The knot in Bellamy's chest loosened with each passing second. She looked healthy.

"Where's Lincoln?"

"Farming." Octavia said through a laugh. "Can you believe it?"

Bellamy snorted, solely at Octavia's laugh, not because Lincoln farming was surprising. He swung an arm across Octavia's shoulders so she was sandwiched against him. "You better have good news since you're late."

She tried to squirm away, and he let her. "Barely late." She said, once she was free. "Anyways, I spoke with the Council, and because of the new alliance, they are willing to grant you the land you want for building. It took some convincing, but Lincoln and I explained that the land that the Ark fell onto is a terrible place to build, solely due to farming and not at all due to the lack of military advantage of being down in that valley, but anyways, they have agreed. I explained that you all were planning on building here, above the Gray River, and they are sending out scouts tomorrow to witness."

"Witness what?" Raven asked.

Octavia shrugged. "Not sure. I think some of it was lost in translation. Breaking ground?"

"We didn't bring building supplies. We are here on a scouting trip only." Bellamy said.

"I think they just want to know exactly where our camp will be and what size, in case something goes wrong with the alliance, and the Grounders and the Sky People are enemies again." Clarke said. She reached out to pet the black mare on the nose, which the mare seemed to barely tolerate.

"I agree." Octavia said.

Clarke put her hands in her pockets and then turned to Bellamy. It had started to get light, and now Bellamy could clearly see that she was wearing his dark green shirt under her jacket. He wondered if she had noticed yet. "I think we should send the kids home. It was a nice adventure for them, and good training, when we were just waiting for Octavia and looking for land, but I'm not sure I want them around if something goes wrong tomorrow with the scouts. "

Raven nodded before Bellamy could. "We can send them back in the Rover too. I could drive, or Miller."

Clarke shook her head. "I need you here Raven; I need your brain for the blueprints."

Raven rolled her eyes, but she looked pleased. "You don't need to call them blueprints, we're just building one room cabins. But fine, I'll stay. Which boy do you not want around?"

"Jasper." Bellamy said, at the same time that Clarke said, "Murphy".

"Send them both." Clarke said, "and someone come up with a reason we need them back at the Arc besides their protection. They won't like that."

Raven nodded and headed back inside the circle of tents. "Yes Boss", she called over her shoulder.


End file.
